Welcome to Insider Out Travel, a blog about LGBT travel written by LGBT tourism professionals. Travel the globe and gain insight into the tourism industry (with a gay twist), brought to you by the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association.

Enjoy!

Friday, July 9, 2010

One of our Sponsors - Travel Guard

What do you think of when your thoughts drift toward vacationing in France, Germany and Belgium? For some people, a trip to one of these European cultural hotspots evokes thoughts of amazing architecture, medieval villages, food and festivals rich with the region’s ancient heritage. Certainly, it meant all this and more for two seasoned travelers from Omaha, Nebraska who planned their personal journey to remember. They expected things to go off without a hitch. Surely, their experience and travel skills would serve them well as they maneuvered the complexity of overseas travel.

The travelers effortlessly navigated their way around Europe and thoroughly enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells of its rich culture. Being experienced travelers they thought nothing would ever go wrong.

But that’s where their travel luck ended. Upon their arrival back in the United Sates they received word that their connecting flight, which would take them home to Nebraska, had been cancelled because of severe weather; which was also making weather around the New York airport less than hospitable.

At first they were informed their flight would be delayed two hours, but that quickly turned into four hours and then they learned a new flight wouldn’t arrive until the next day. The travelers were given a phone number to call the next morning to be sure their flight was still taking off at the announced time.

Unfortunately, when the next morning came, all they heard when they dialed the phone number was a recording - and it didn’t give them the confirmation they needed. They needed to talk to someone to find out what time their flight was leaving, but how? That’s when they remembered the travel insurance plan they had purchased through Travel Guard.

Travel Guard worked with the airline on the travelers’ behalf only to learn that their flight had left at 9 a.m. without them! Without missing a beat, Travel Guard worked with the two now weary travelers to obtain new flight tickets home. While other passengers were arguing and shouting in the airport frustrated with their flight situation, these two travelers were working with Travel Guard who took the worry out of an otherwise stressful situation.